Trumpet Woodwind Instruments

The trumpet is the highest brass instrument in register, above the horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba. A musician who plays the trumpet is called a trumpet player or trumpeter.

The trumpet is by convention a transposing instrument, pitched in several keys relative to concert pitch. The most common is the Bb; trumpet, but C, D, Eb;, E, F, G and A trumpet is also available. The C trumpet is most commonly used in orchestral playing, where its slightly smaller size gives it a brighter, more lively sound than the Bb; trumpet. In the orchestra, players of both Bb; and C trumpet needs to know how to transpose because of the instrument's non-chromatic predecessor (before the advent of the valved trumpet, music was always written in C major and the trumpeter would adjust their instrument to the key of the music). The Bb; trumpet's typical range extends from the written F# (concert E) immediately below middle C, up to about three octaves higher. Standard repertoire rarely calls for notes beyond this range, and the fingering tables of most method books peak at the C (high C) two octaves above middle C. This is partly because notes in the higher register may be achieved with almost any fingering, as with so-called pedal tones in the octaves below the standard F#. Several trumpeters have achieved fame for their proficiency in the extreme higher register of the instrument, among them Arturo Sandoval, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Chase and Maynard Ferguson, who helped make well-known the term double high C to describe the next octave above high C. Trumpeters with great endurance and/or range are said to have impressive chops.

The smallest trumpet is referred to as piccolo trumpet. The most common of these are built to play in both Bb; and A, with separate leadpipes for each key. The tubing in the Bb; piccolo trumpet is exactly one-half the length of that in a standard Bb; trumpet. Piccolo trumpet in G, F and even high C isalso manufactured, but are more rare. Many players use a smaller mouthpiece on the piccolo trumpet. The tone is metallic and clean. Because of the smaller mouthpiece size, the player's embouchure is affected much more severely than when playing a regular trumpet; endurance is often limited to very short periods of playing per day. Many piccolo trumpets have four valves instead of the usual three: the fourth valve takes the instrument down in pitch, usually but not always by a fourth, to allow the playing of lower notes which are otherwise hard to obtain on a three-valve instrument. Among its best-known proponents are Maurice Andre, Wynton Marsalis and Hakan Hardenberger.

The bass trumpet is usually played by a trombone player, being at the same pitch and using a similar mouthpiece. The slide trumpet is a Bb; trumpet that has a slide instead of valves. It is very similar to a soprano trombone. The pocket trumpet is a compact Bb; trumpet. The bell is usually smaller than a standard trumpet, and the tubing is more tightly wound, to reduce the instrument size without reducing the total tube length. Because of their contorted shape, the intonation is severely hindered. There are also rotary-valve, or German, trumpet, as well as alto and Baroque trumpet.

The trumpet is often confused with its similar-looking relative, the cornet, which has more conical tubing, while the trumpet is more cylindrical. This gives the cornet a mellower tone, but because the two instruments have the same range and a substantially similar sound, music written for cornet and trumpet is interchangeable. Another relative, the flugelhorn, also has conical tubing and an even richer tone, and is sometimes augmented with a fourth valve to extend the lower range of the instrument.

The first trumpet reputedly came from Egypt, and were primarily used for military purposes (Joshua's shofar, blown at the battle of Jericho, came from this tradition) like the bugle as we still know it, with different tunes corresponding to different instructions. In medieval times, trumpet playing was a guarded craft, its instruction occurring only within highly selective guilds. The trumpet players were often among the most heavily guarded members of a troop, as they were relied upon to relay instructions to other sections of the army. Eventually the trumpet's value for musical production was seen, particularly after the addition of valves around the mid 1830s, and its use and instruction became much more widespread. The Arabic word for trumpet was naffir. The Spanish used the Arabic name al naffir and changed it into anafil, while the French gave the trumpet it's own name, buisine, derived from the Latin word buccina. (Trompet.nl, 2005)

The modern trumpet evolved from earlier non-valved instruments, such as the Baroque trumpet now used by original instruments ensembles, the cornett or cornetto (not to be confused with the modern cornet), and the Scandinavian lur.

Today, the trumpet is used in nearly all forms of music, including classical, jazz, rock, blues, pop, ska, polka and funk. Among the great modern trumpet players are Maurice André, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Maynard Ferguson, Adolph "Bud" Herseth, Wynton Marsalis, Philip Smith, Doc Severinsen and James Morrison. See 20th century brass instrumentalists for a more comprehensive list.